Harry — who blind-sided the British monarchy last week when he and Meghan announced they wanted to step down from their “senior royal duties” — arrived at grandmother Queen Elizabeth II’s Sandringham estate around 11:40 a.m., or nearly two and a half hours before the sit-down’s 2 p.m. local start time.

“Harry wanted to put his side of the story to the Queen” before the pair was joined by his brother, Prince William, and dad Prince Charles, the Daily Mail said, quoting friends.

The move apparently worked.

After talking privately, Harry and the queen proceeded to have two hours of “calm” discussion with William and Charles, the site said.

Meghan, who is in Canada, was not included by telephone in the talks, as had reportedly been previously arranged, because the palace was concerned that the call could have been intercepted by an unknown outside party, the Mail said.

“This was a highly confidential family discussion, not a conference call,” a source said.

The queen then released an extraordinary statement around 5 p.m. saying the royal family was “entirely supportive” of Harry and Meghan and would be working to ensure their requests were met.